Wow, I knew what I was saying was true but didn't realize how bad it really was. Thanks for the info!

Yup. They also put pressure on regular grocery stores and can sometimes even apply enough pressure to force a grocery store to close up shop and thereby create a "food desert".

While there's certainly a place for dollar stores in a community, you know what they don't have? A produce section.

I don't doubt that at all. I'm sure there's ROI calculations that go on to see if it makes sense to go that route.

Also, I don't see the storage unit companies as evildoers or necessarily predatory here. Sure, it can be argued that they're profiting off of the misfortunes of some of their customer but they're also providing a vital service that in some cases keeps folks from losing not only their home but also losing most of their possessions. and the fact that more storage facilities are being build drives down the cost to the consumer.

I don't see the building of storage unit facilities as a problem in most cases, but I do believe that when you see so many being built so rapidly, it's a symptom and indicator of a much larger economic issue.

True, but states like Florida and Texas also generally have larger yards than Baltimore area homes. I would think homeowners there would more likely opt to pay a one time upfront cost to buy/build a shed instead of recurring monthly fees for a storage unit that, within six months to a year, total more than the cost of a shed.

Obviously this is generalizing what the "typical" situations are and assuming that these folks are good at these types of decisions so this comment and my previous one don't account for every storage unit user's situation. I'm also sure there's a huge spectrum that folks fall on between hoarder and minimalist.

I do, however, believe that there are likely very smart people who watch various market trends in order to make highly educated decisions about when the right time to build a storage facility would be. My previous comment was only intended to point out that a layperson like myself only needs to see the product of these smart people's decisions in order to get an idea of what they're seeing.

I can't remember where I heard about this research but, if I remember correctly, new storage facility construction has a correlation with inflation rates and poverty rates rising. It seems that it tends to be a strong indicator of higher rates of folks either having to downsize their homes or of defaulting on their mortgages and having to move into rental properties, move in with relatives, and even becoming homeless entirely.

Basically, the more storage facilities you see popping up generally indicates that the percentage of our population who are going through financial hardships is increasing.

It's generally a pretty small percentage of storage unit patrons that are simply holding onto too much shit and mostly just folks storing the last of their possessions in the hopes that things will turn around and they'll be able to afford a home of their own again.

So folks should be upset for your reason and this one.

It was already dangerous to swim in but I'm pretty sure we've achieved Australia level danger at this point. Going down under that water is extremely ill advised.